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THE

WORLD'S STUDENT CHRISTIAN
FEDERATION

ORIGIN, OBJECTS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FEDERATION
THE CONVENTION AT NORTHFIELD AND WILLIAMSTOWN
SOME ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FIRST TWO YEARS

JOHN R. MOTT,
GENERAL SECRETARY

I I

I I

e
I !

GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERATION

AMERICAN AND CANADIAN INTERCOLLEGIATE YOUNG
MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION '

RICHARD C. MORSE
JOHN R. MOTT

AUSTRALASIAN STUDENT CHRISTIAN UNION

S. HENRY BARRACLOUGH
JOHANNES HEYBR

BRITISH COLLEGE CHRISTIAN UNION

STANLEY WRIGHT
G. H. MOULB

COLLEGE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION" OF CHINA

DING MING UONG
F. L. HAWKS POTT

GERMAN UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE

COUNT VON DER RECKE
THEOPHIL MANN

INTERCOLLEGIATE YOUNG MEN'S, CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
OF INDIA AND CEYLON

KALI CHARAN BANURJI
S. SATTHIANADHAN

SCANDINAVIAN UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT

KARL FRIES
K. M. ECKHOFF

STUDENTS' CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA

CHARLES D. MURRAY
R. A. RUSSELL

STUDENT YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION UNION OF JAPAN

K. IBUKA
Y. HONDA

STUDENT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN MISSION LANDS

LUTHER D. WISHARD
J. R. STEVENSON

OFFICERS OF THE FEDERATION

CHAIRMAN, .... KARL FRIES

VICE-CHAIRMAN, K. IBUKA

TREASURER, .... STANLEY WRIGHT
GENERAL SECRETARY, - - JOHN R. MOTT,

283 Fourth Avenue, New York City, U. S. A-

Ube rfsin, bjects an& Significance
ot tbe ffeberation

THIS CHAPTER IS TAKEN
FROM "STRATEGIC POINTS IN
THE WORLD'S CONQUEST"

THE ORIGIN, OBJECTS AND SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE FEDERATION

In the month of August, 1895, there was held within the
walls of the ancient Swedish castle of Vadstena, on the shores
of Lake Wettern, a gathering of students which is destined to
occupy as important a place in the history of the Christian
Church as the famous haystack prayer-meeting at Williams
College. Never since the Wartburg sheltered the great Ger-
man reformer while he was translating the Bible for the com-
mon people has a medieval castle served a purpose fraught
with larger blessing to all mankind. This conference in
Scandinavia was composed of representatives of the five great
intercollegiate movements then in existence, the American
Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association, the British
College Christian Union, the German Christian Students' Al-
liance, the Scandinavian University Christian Movement, and
the Student Christian Movement in Mission Lands. Before
sending their delegates to Sweden the different movements
represented had come to an affirmative decision on the follow-
ing question : If it be profitable for the Christian students of
any one university or college to associate for the sake of in-
fluencing other students for Christ, and sending them into the
world to extend His kingdom ; if it be highly desirable to
band together the various Christian organizations of any one
country in order to make them more helpful to each other in
all their activities, and to enable them to make a deeper im-
pression upon the national life ; would it not be most advan-
tageous to unite in a great federation the national intercolle-
giate movements of the whole world ? Days of intense and
prayerful discussion resulted in the formation of the World's
Student Christian Federation, and in the unanimous adoption

S The World's Student Christian Federation

of its constitution. It was fitting that this most important
step should be taken at the Scandinavian conference, for that
was the first student convention ever held in which there were
present delegates from all the great Protestant powers. This
fact was vividly impressed on all by the grouping over the plat-
form of the flags of these nations.

The Federation is well named. It is already world-wide in
its purpose and extent. It is distinctively a student enterprise.
It is unqualifiedly Christian. And it is not a merging or con-
solidation of old organizations, but a union or federation of
student movements, each of which preserves its independence
and individuality. The object of the Federation is most in-
spiring. It is nothing less than the uniting of the Christian
forces of all universities and colleges in the great work of win-
ning the students of the world for Christ, of building them up
in Him, and of sending them out into the world to work for
Him.

Since the five movements already named united in the for-
mation of the Federation, it has been entered by five others;
namely, the Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association
of India and Ceylon, the Australasian Student Christian Union,
the Students' Christian Association of South Africa, the College
Young Men's Christian Association of China, and the Student
Young Men's Christian Association Union of Japan. To pro-
mote the objects of the Federation there is a general commit-
tee, composed of two men from each movement. Correspond-
ing members have been appointed for countries which have
not yet been admitted to the Federation. Only those move-
ments can be federated which combine a national or interna-
tional group of colleges, and which in their aims and work are
in full harmony with the objects of the Federation.

This world-wide union of students is the work of God. He
planted the idea and the hope of its realization at almost the
same time in the minds of different men in widely separated
lands. Plans for some such union had been proposed at dif-

The World's Student Christian Federation 9

ferent times in the past, but the fulness of time for a world's
federation did not come until 1895. Then for the first time
had the student movements of Europe, America, and Asia
reached such a stage of development, and come into such a
relation to each other, that it was possible to form a compre-
hensive, practical, and harmonious federation.

The Federation has made possible for the first time a thor-
ough investigation of the moral and religious condition of stu-
dents in all lands ; and this investigation has revealed some of
the greatest opportunities presented within our generation. It
has facilitated the introduction of organized Christian work
into some of the most difficult and important unoccupied fields.
Moreover, the conditions have been made favorable for a com-
parative study of the methods of promoting Christian life and
work among students. This must be a decided help to the
student organizations in every country. As God has given
to some movements a larger and richer experience than to
others, the Federation affords them an opportunity to make
that experience a blessing to the entire student world. It has
established means of communication through which tfhe differ-
ent national movements will act and react upon each other.
Gladstone, in speaking of the influence of the universities in
the Middle Ages, said that "they established, so to speak, a
telegraph for the mind ; and all the elements of intellectual
culture scattered throughout Europe were brought by them
into near communion. They established a great brotherhood
of the understanding." This Federation has established a tele-
graph in things spiritual ; and the methods of work wrought
out by student societies in different lands, the ideals set forth
by the students of different races, the great works accomplished
by the Spirit of God among the students of the Occident and
Orient, have by the Federation been brought into near com-
munion. It has established a great student brotherhood in
Jesus Christ. Who can measure the possibilities of such a
brotherhood ?

IO The World's Student Christian Federation

The chief significance of the Federation is in its unifying
power. It is doing- much to unify the plans and methods of
Christian work among students in different countries. More-
over, it is uniting in effort and in spirit as never before the
students of the world. It is helping to unite the nations by
stronger and more enduring bonds than arbitration treaties,
because it is fusing together by the omnipotent Spirit of Christ
the students who are to be the leaders of the nations. In this
time of "wars and rumors of wars," this Federation signifies
that, so far as the student class is concerned, there is no Britain
and no America, no France and no Germany, no China and no
Japan, but Christ is all and in all. Furthermore, in these days
when so much is being said and written about Christian unity,
this Federation, by uniting the students of some seventy lead-
ing branches of the all-embracing Church of Christ, is demon-
strating in the most practical manner that " There is one
body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope
of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all."

This unifying of the Christian organizations of the student
world is not an end in itself. It is but a preparation for a larger
work in the world. May it not be that God Himself is plan-
ning far greater things than the Church has ever witnessed ?
Has there ever been such an alignement of the forces for a
great forward movement among the races of mankind ? The
Jesuits, in their supreme efforts to conquer the world, stretched
a chain of hundreds of colleges and seminaries from Ireland to
Japan. They recognized the strategic importance of institu-
tions of higher learning. The World's Student Christian
Federation is another organization which takes the whole
world into its vision and plan. It likewise recognizes the
strategic importance of the colleges and universities, and
steadfastly seeks in all of them to make Christ King, in order
that there may go forth from them hosts of young men for
the spiritual conquest of the world.

ttbe Convention at Bortbffelo ano
WilUamstown

THE CONVENTION AT NORTHFIELD
AND WILLIAMSTOWN

The first convention of the World's Student Christian Fed-
eration, since its organization in Sweden in 1895, was held in
the United States of America in July, 1897. The regular
Federation delegates first met at Northfield in conjunction
with the annual conference of the American and Canadian
Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association. In addi-
tion to the six hundred students from one hundred and thirty-
six universities and colleges of the United States and Canada,
there were present students and Christian workers represent-
ing twenty-five other nations or races. They represented
Orient and Occident, Northern Hemisphere and Southern
Hemisphere, all of the six continents of the globe as well as
the islands of the Pacific and Southern Seas. Delegates were
registered from not less than thirty-six denominations or
branches of the all-embracing Church of Christ, and from all
the five great races of mankind. All classes of institutions of
higher learning were represented state, Christian, and inde-
pendent as well as the different faculties or departments of
learning arts, medicine, theology, science, philosophy, en-
gineering.

The Round Top meetings were placed at the disposal of the
Federation. Round Top is the little hill just back of Mr. D.
L. Moody's house, and is famous as being the place where
more students have dedicated their lives to the extension of
Christ's Kingdom than anywhere else in the wide world. Day
after day at sunset the hundreds of delegates from the ends of
the earth assembled on this sacred mount to lift up their eyes
and look far beyond the beautiful Connecticut Valley and the
distant Green Mountains upon the great harvest fields of the

13

14 The Worlds Student Christian Federation

world, and to listen to burning messages from their fellow-
students telling of the triumphs of Christ among their own
people and the need of more men to preach the Gospel in
regions beyond. It was especially inspiring to learn of the
wonderful work of God among the students of many lands.
The Federation delegates attended not only the large public
meetings over which Mr. Moody himself presided, but also
the conferences for the discussion of methods and means for
promoting Christian life and work among students, the nor-
mal classes for training teachers for Bible circles and leaders
of bands to win students to Christ, the missionary institute
to consider the best plans of developing missionary interest
and activity, and the delegation meetings of several of the
universities. This afforded them an opportunity not only to
study the methods of the oldest and largest student move-
ment, but also to give to the members of that movement
valuable ideas as well as great inspiration.

One afternoon the Federation delegates made a pilgrimage
to Mount Hermon, which is only a few miles from Northfield,
on the other side of the river. The groves and hills and river
banks at Mount Hermon are holy ground, for it was here, at
the first international student conference held in 1886, that
the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions had
its rise. Some who had attended that memorable meeting
were present to recount to the delegates the story of those
days made wonderful by the mighty working of the Spirit of
God. After visiting the various places associated with the
beginnings of the Volunteer Movement, the delegates assem-
bled where Mr. Moody had cleared the ground for the erec-
tion of a chapel for the Mount Hermon School and conse-
crated the site by an impressive meeting in which prayer was
offered in twenty-one languages.

Directly after the conference at Northfield, the men who had
been appointed to represent officially different national and
international student movements went to Williamstown, in

The World's Student Christian Federation 15

the State of Massachusetts, to hold their business sessions, or
the real convention of the Federation. It is a good indica-
tion of the strength of the Federation bond that all of the
ten movements of which it is composed were represented,
namely, the movements of America, Australasia, Britain,
China, Germany, India and Ceylon, Japan, Scandinavia,
South Africa, and the movement of scattered associations in
other mission lands. The student organizations of Holland,
France, and Switzerland, although not yet members of the
Federation, were officially represented. A few other men
who hold positions of leadership in student work were also
admitted. It is a most significant fact that this is the first con-
vention in which student movements of all parts of the world
have been officially represented.

In the absence of Dr. Fries, the chairman of the General
Committee of the Federation, President Ibuka, of the Meiji
Gakuin in Tokyo, Japan, was chosen to preside over the vari-
ous sessions, a task which he performed with grace, impartial-
ity, dignity, and ability. This was probably the first world's
Christian gathering at which an Oriental has presided, but it
will not be the last. Full and interesting reports were made
by the representatives of the different movements, showing
conclusively that, taking the student world over, there has
never been such a time as the two years since the organiza-
tion of the Federation in point of religious earnestness and
well-directed Christian activity. The secretaries of the Fed-
eration also rendered reports. This series of reports, together
with the answers to questions following their presentation,
constituted the most comprehensive survey ever taken of the
student field of the world and the Christian agencies which
are responsible for its cultivation.

The main themes around which the discussions gathered
were, The Sphere of the Federation, What Should Charac-
terize a Strong Student Movement, How Can the Federation
Best Serve the National Movements of Which it is Composed,

1 6 The World's Student Christian Federation

How Can the Various Movements be Kept in Most Helpful
Touch with Each Other. Ideas were presented and con-
clusions reached which will vitally affect organized Christian
work for students all over the world.

The electron of officers resulted in the choice of Dr. Karl
Fries, of Sweden, for chairman ; President Ibuka, of Japan, for
vice-chairman ; Mr. Stanley Wright, of Great Britain, for
treasurer ; and Mr. John R. Mott, of America, for General
Secretary. An interesting and characteristic incident in this
connection was the nomination of President Ibuka, of Japan,
by Mr. Ding Ming Uong, of China. It was decided to recom-
mend the observance of a universal day of prayer for students.
February I3th has been set apart as the day to be observed in
1898. The next meeting of the General Committee was fixed
to be held in August, 1898, in Germany. The general policy
of the Federation was discussed and agreed upon in committee.
The constitution was amended in harmony with proposals
submitted chiefly by the German movement. Special meet-
ings were held for prayer. There was a remarkable spirit of
unity. Christ was exalted in all the reports and plans.

The high tide of the Federation Convention, if not of all
student conventions, was marked by the meeting held at twi-
light one day near the close of the convention at the Williams
Hay Stack Monument. This plain marble column surmounted
by a globe and surrounded by a large circle of evergreen trees,
located not far from Williams College, is one of the most his-
toric spots in connection with modern missions. It marks the
place where in 1806 a little band of five Williams College
students, who were in the habit of meeting for prayer in a
neighboring grove, took refuge from a storm beneath an old
hay stack, and while there united in prayer and resolution on
behalf of the non-Christian world. At that time there was no
foreign missionary society in North America and no student
Christian movement in the world. Their prayers and efforts
from that day forth led to the formation of the oldest mis-

The World's Student Christian Federation 17

sionary society of America, which has in turn had so much to
do with the development of the scores of missionary societies
of North America. It must never be forgotten, moreover, that
this memorable meeting was one of the main sources of the
Student Volunteer Movement and of the American and
Canadian Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association.
Short speeches were made showing the providential connec-
tion between the hay stack prayer-meeting of ninety-one
years ago and the modern student movements and the Federa-
tion itself, also drawing lessons from the prayerfulness, hero-
ism, faith, and consecration of this little band of students. The
battle hymns of the Church were sung with fervor and deep
feeling. Praise and prayer were offered in many tongues.
The delegates unitedly rang out the words of the hay stack
band, " We can do it if we will " adding that watchword
which during these days is taking such strong hold on the
lives of students of all races, " Make Jesus King ! " They
then joined hands around the monument for closing prayer,
but it was not until the meeting had been thrice prolonged,
and the doxology sung as many times, that this world-em-
bracing circle reluctantly broke up. When we recalled in
imagination the little band of five students meeting nearly a
century ago at a time when intercollegiate relations were un-
known and missionary spirit almost wholly wanting, and, in the
face of misunderstanding, opposition, and grave difficulties,
praying and working to inaugurate a student and missionary
movement ; and then looked around the circle and saw repre-
sentatives of thirteen national or international student move-
ments of five continents, representing officially Christian
societies in eight hundred universities and colleges, with a
membership of over fifty thousand students, we were re-
minded that one has become more than a thousand, even
ten thousand, and that other words of prophecy might be
translated into inspiring history, " They are coming from the
East and West, and from the North and South, and are sitting

1 8 The World's Student Christian Federation

down in the Kingdom of God." It takes no prophet to see
that this world-wide student brotherhood is destined to wield
a mighty influence in hastening the time when " the kingdom
of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His
Christ : and He shall reign forever and ever."

Some Hc&ievements of tbe jf irst

REPORT OF THE GENERAL
SECRETARY, PRESENTED AT
THE CONVENTION OF THE
FEDERATION HELD AT
WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSA-
CHUSETTS, JULY 7-9, 1897

SOME ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FIRST TWO YEARS

I. GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE WORK OF THE SECRETARY

We have been occupied during the larger part of the two
years which have elapsed since the formation of the World's
Student Christian Federation in making a tour of the world
under its auspices. Over sixty thousand miles were traversed,
or considerably more than twice the distance around the
world. Work has been carried on in twenty-four different
countries and in one hundred and forty-four universities and
colleges. Our work as General Secretary of the Federation
may be outlined as follows :

1. Seventy student Christian associations or unions have
been organized, not counting the reorganizing of a number of
other societies. In organizing these societies we have sought
in each case to adapt their structure and methods to the con-
ditions of the country in which we were working at the time.
Encouraging reports have been received with reference to the
work of nearly all these new organizations.

2. We have helped to organize five national student Chris-
tian movements, namely, The Intercollegiate Young Men's
Christian Association of India and Ceylon, the Student Vol-
unteer Movement of India and Ceylon,the Australasian Student
Christian Union, the College Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion of China, and the Student Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation Union of Japan. In these movements are to be found
practically all of the seventy associations which were estab-
lished. Our work of organization, therefore, has been not so
much that of enlarging existing movements as that of forming
new movements. In establishing these national organizations
we have sought to follow, wherever possible, the instructions
of the General Committee. In the case of the movement in

21

22 The World's Stiident Christian Federation

China a departure was made in having appointed one foreigner
and one Chinese, instead of two Chinese, to represent that
country in the Federation. This was done at the unanimous
request of both Chinese and foreign delegates at the national
convention. It is believed that all the members of the Com-
mittee are agreed as to the wisdom of continuing to follow the
policy of conservatism in admitting new movements to the
Federation. It is most important that such movements be
carefully visited by some representative of the Committee be-
fore they are formally admitted. There is everything to gain
by such a policy and nothing to lose.

3. We have appointed corresponding members of the Gen-
eral Committee for France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hun-
gary, Bulgaria, Turkey in Europe, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and
the Hawaiian Islands. We had extended interviews with all
of these men, explaining to them the Federation and their re-
lation to it. At the request of the Committee, Mr. Maclean
has also appointed and instructed a member for Holland, and
Mr. Williamson has appointed one for Belgium. Not only
should all of these members be reappointed or replaced by new
members, but members should also be appointed for at least
twenty other countries. Great care should be exercised in
these appointments.

4. We have devoted considerable time to gathering infor-
mation concerning the moral and religious life of students in
different countries and also concerning organized Christian
work among them. A list of eighteen questions was pre-
pared and sent to some representative person in nearly every
country in the world. Answers have been received from
thirty- two different countries: Germany, Great Britain, Rus-
sia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Holland, Switzerland,
Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey in Europe,
Egypt, South Africa, Asia Minor, Syria, India, Ceylon, Bur-
mah, Japan, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, the United
States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, United States of Colum-

The World's Student Christian Federation 23

bia, Brazil, Chili, Uruguay, Paraguay. All but seven of these
reports are quite complete and satisfactory. In this work we
have had the assistance of one or more men in each country.
The difficulties of such an investigation are indeed very great.
In all probability, it will take at least two years more to com-
plete the research and tabulate the results. The co-operation
of Mr. Williamson has been of great value in securing returns
from several countries.

5. Large portions of our time have been devoted to confer-
ences and conventions. Along the pathway of the tour we
rendered service at twenty-one student gatherings. These
were attended by over fifty-five hundred delegates, of whom
fully thirty-three hundred were students and teachers, repre-
senting three hundred and eight institutions of higher learning.
The rest of the delegates were missionaries and other Christian
workers. These gatherings enabled us to touch the very
springs of student life of many countries and races. They fur-
nished favorable conditions for the inauguration of movements
of a far-reaching spiritual character. They were occasions of
marked manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit.

6. We have given time systematically to the work of keep-
ing the leaders of each national student movement informed
about the work of similar organizations in all parts of the
world. This has necessitated, in addition to heavy personal
correspondence, the writing of twenty-one report letters. We
have also had the pamphlets and publications bearing on the
work of the different movements sent to the various national
leaders. Not a few have testified to the value of the Federa-
tion as a mediary between the widely separated student organ-
izations of the world field. It is most important that every-
thing possible be done to facilitate interchange of helpful in-
fluences between the Christian students of the various nations
and races. The Federation will greatly promote the Kingdom
of Christ if it can keep these bodies of students acting and re*
acting upon each other.

24 The World's Student Christian Federation

7. We have tried to make a comparative study of the meth-
ods for the promotion of Christian life and work among stu-
dents. The ideas of hundreds of students "have been drawn
out in the discussions conducted in the long chain of confer-
ences. Interviews have been held with the majority of the
thirteen hundred missionaries met in different parts of the
world. We have also read many reports, files of periodicals,
and minute books which afford light on student problems.

8. We have had the greatest joy and satisfaction not so
much in organizing national and local societies, nor in the far-
reaching work of co-operating with other student leaders, as in
the direct work with the students themselves. Under the in-
fluence of the Spirit of God, in answer to the ever enlarging
volume of prayer on the part of friends in all parts of the
world, there have been in connection with the work in colleges
and conferences over five hundred young men who have pro-
fessed to receive Christ as their personal Saviour, fully three
hundred who have dedicated their lives to Christian work,
and over twenty-two hundred who have decided to keep the
morning watch.

II. A TEN YEARS' RETROSPECT

The developments in recent years in connection with the
Christian student movements throughout the world have been
simply marvelous. To lend wings to our faith as to what we
may expect in the future, let us recall a few facts showing the
progress achieved in the last ten years under the leadership of
the Spirit of God. Ten years ago there were only three inter-
collegiate Christian movements; now there are no less than nine-
teen. Then there were three national secretaries devoting their
time to developing student movements ; now there are twenty-
seven, not counting some who are under appointment. Then
there were only three pamphlets and one periodical bearing on
Christian work among students ; now there are over seventy-
five pamphlets and eight periodicals. Then there had been

The World's Student Christian Federation 25

held but one student summer school, attended by two hundred
and fifty delegates ; within the past year there have been
twenty-seven student conventions with over four thousand
delegates. Then the students of each country were absolutely
ignorant concerning the religious life of the students of other
lands ; now the members of Christian associations in the most
isolated colleges of China know more about organized Christian
work among the students of Europe than some of our leading
universities in America or Europe knew about the Christian
life of neighboring universities a few years ago. Then Chris-
tian societies of students were entirely isolated from similar
societies in all other lands ; now we have the World's Student
Christian Federation, which unites Christian societies of over
eight hundred universities and colleges scattered throughout all
continents of the world, and which has brought together in
convention from the ends of the earth representatives of twenty-
seven nations and races. Then there were missionary fires
burning in a very few colleges ; we now witness the inspiring
and unprecedented spectacle of a world-wide student mission-
ary uprising to evangelize the whole world in this generation.
Then there were but a few scattered Bible classes, and compar-
atively little private Bible study among students; now there are
Bible classes or circles in nearly every one of the eight hundred
institutions in the Federation, having in them over -fifteen
thousand members, of whom probably three thousand keep the
morning watch. Permanent and progressive courses of study
are being elaborated and hundreds of student teachers are
being trained from year to year. Then there were compara-
tively few spiritual awakenings in colleges ; now we hear of
spiritual awakenings in scores of student centres in all parts of
the world, and the Christward movement among educated men
is increasing in volume every year. There never has been a
time in the history of the world when such large numbers of
students were acknowledging their allegiance to Jesus Christ
as Saviour and Lord. If so much has been done before the

26 The World's Student Christian Federation

Federation has fairly begun its work, what may we not expect
in the next ten years if we are true to our opportunity, pre-
serve the unity of the Spirit, and walk humbly with our God ?

III. PERILS OF THE FEDERATION

Every movement of large spiritual possibilities is attended
with perils. It is well that we clearly recognize them, in order
more effectively to meet them. The spirit of pride, or
counting ourselves in any measure as having attained, is a
very real peril. We should avoid letting praise attach to
men, or movements, or the Federation itself, and should seek
rather to have the Federation in its activities and relation-
ships secure the maximum of glory to God, who is all and
in all. In a movement covering a field so large as the
world there is danger lest some of its members become iso-
lated from each other in sympathy and work. Much can be
done to minimize this peril by secretarial visitation, by inter-
change of reports, by regular committee meetings, and by
prayer. Moreover, the very invisibility of the Federation is
a peril to its highest usefulness. In order to secure a strong
following in the different nations, in order to obtain the
necessary financial support, and, above all, in order to call
forth world-wide intercession, it is necessary for the members
of the Federation Committee in each country to keep before
their respective movements the divine facts in connection with
its origin and work. What movement is there, whether small
or large, in this day of organizations, which is not in peril of
depending at times more upon machinery than upon the Spirit
of God ? There is no better way to counteract this peril than
for each member of the Federation to keep himself, day by
day, under the sway of the Spirit. One of the chief perils
which the devil will undoubtedly seek to employ will be to
create national or racial jealousies. This is not an Ori-
ental Federation ; it is not a Continental Federation ; it
is not an Anglo-Saxon Federation ; it is not a Federation

The World's Student Christian Federation 27

of the Western Hemisphere ; but a World's Federation;
more than that, it is emphatically a Christian Federation.
Let us, therefore, " give diligence to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace." Let us draw our deepest
inspiration from the fact that we are helping- to realize
the prayer of our Lord, "that they all may be one." Another
peril may present itself. We may be tempted to compromise
the corner-stone principle of the Federation loyalty to Jesus
Christ as Saviour and as God. Rather than yield to this sub-
tle and dangerous temptation, the Federation had better dis-
band ; for what can we hope to accomplish if we are disloyal
to Him who is at once the source, the pattern, the inspiration,
the life and the end of all our achievements ? Yet another
peril is the failure to rise to the possibilities of our mission.
May we never be content with small things. The students of
the whole world are before us. From their ranks are coming
the leaders of the nations. The realization of the highest
hopes of the Kingdom of God hinge upon their attitude to
Jesus Christ. In the providence of God there depends largely
upon these students the evangelization of a thousand millions
of human beings'. Surely God is preparing for mighty things
in the world. Let us never lose the vision of our possibilities,
as with self-denial and prayerfulness we help to realize the
plan of God for this Federation.

IV. CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE LARGEST ACHIEVEMENTS

OF THE FEDERATION DEPEND

If the Federation is to fulfil its divine mission it must com-
ply with those conditions which the experience of religious or-
ganizations, as well as the revealed will of God, have shown to
be essential.

1. There must be close and constant watchfulness or super-
vision on the part of a representative and efficient committee.

2. One or more persons must give the best of their time.

28 The World's Stiidcnt Christian Federation

thought, and energy to making operative the will of this com-
mittee.

3. There must be loyalty to the Federation on the part of
the movements of which it is composed. To preserve such a
spirit of loyalty means must be employed to keep the leaders
in intelligent and sympathetic touch with each other and
with the work and \vorkers of the Federation.

4. To do the largest work, the Federation must recognize
and keep its true place, which is to serve the various move-
ments and not to govern them. If it would be a mighty force
it must become the servant of all.

5. Finally, the Federation must be kept filled with divine
energy as a result of the expansion of the inner life of its
members.

NOTICE

COPIES OF THIS PAMPHLET MAY BE OB-
TAINED AT THE FOLLOWING PRICE: SIN-
GLE COPIES, POSTPAID, 5 PENCE, 40 PFEN-
NIGS, 30 CENTIMES, OR 10 CENTS GOLD,
EACH. IN QUANTITIES OP ONE DOZEN OR
MORE, POSTPAID, 2 SHILLINGS, 2 MARKS,
2 FRANCS AND 50 CENTIMES, OR 50 CENTS
GOLD PER DOZEN.

THE AMERICAN EDITION OF THE BOOK
" STRATEGIC POINTS IN THE WORLD'S
CONQUEST : OR, THE UNIVERSITIES AND
COLLEGES AS RELATED TO THE PROG-
RESS OF CHRISTIANITY " WILL BE SENT TO
ANY ADDRESS, POSTPAID, FOR 4 SHIL-
LINGS, 4 MARKS, 5 FRANCS, OR t DOLLAR
GOLD. ADDRESS : JOHN R. MOTT, GEN-
ERAL SECRETARY, 283 FOURTH AVENUE,
NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A.

BV
1430
.W9A3
1898

409342

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